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Modern Art

MODERN STYLE

The first decades of the 20th century were a period of artistic upheaval, with modern art movements including Cubism, Surrealism, Futurism and Dadaism questioning centuries of traditional views of what art should be. Using abstraction, experimental forms and interdisciplinary techniques, painters, sculptors, photographers, printmakers and performance artists all pushed the boundaries of creative expression.

Major exhibitions, like the 1913 Armory Show in New York City — also known as the “International Exhibition of Modern Art,” in which works like the radically angular Nude Descending a Staircase by Marcel Duchamp caused a sensation — challenged the perspective of viewers and critics and heralded the arrival of modern art in the United States. But the movement’s revolutionary spirit took shape in the 19th century.

The Industrial Revolution, which ushered in new technology and cultural conditions across the world, transformed art from something mostly commissioned by the wealthy or the church to work that responded to personal experiences. The Impressionist style emerged in 1860s France with artists like Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne and Edgar Degas quickly painting works that captured moments of light and urban life. Around the same time in England, the Pre-Raphaelites, like Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, borrowed from late medieval and early Renaissance art to imbue their art with symbolism and modern ideas of beauty.

Emerging from this disruption of the artistic status quo, modern art went further in rejecting conventions and embracing innovation. The bold legacy of leading modern artists Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dalí, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Marc Chagall, Piet Mondrian and many others continues to inform visual culture today.

Find a collection of modern paintings, sculptures, prints and other fine art on 1stDibs.

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Style: Modern
1944 Vintage Mid Century Modern Swedish Figurative Portrait Oil Painting - Oscar
1944 Vintage Mid Century Modern Swedish Figurative Portrait Oil Painting - Oscar

1944 Vintage Mid Century Modern Swedish Figurative Portrait Oil Painting - Oscar

Located in Bristol, GB

OSCAR Oil on board Size: 65.5 x 54.5 cm (including frame) A striking and emotive mid-century figurative portrait composition that is characterised by expressive brushwork and a rich...

Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Art

Materials

Oil, Board

Vintage American Modernist Interior Architectural Framed Original Oil Painting
Vintage American Modernist Interior Architectural Framed Original Oil Painting

Vintage American Modernist Interior Architectural Framed Original Oil Painting

Located in Buffalo, NY

Vintage American oil painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. Measuring: 14 by 11 inches overall, and 12 by 8.75 painting alone. Unsigned. Excellent condition, ready to hang and enjoy.

Category

1960s Modern Art

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Flower Bouquet

Flower Bouquet

Located in Los Angeles, CA

(Note: This work is part of our exhibition Connected by Creativity: WPA Era Works from the Collection of Leata and Edward Beatty Rowan) Watercolor on paper, 12 x 9 ½ inches unframed sheet, 15 x 12 ½ inches framed, signed lower left About the Artist: Nan Watson...

Category

1930s Modern Art

Materials

Watercolor

Large Exhibited Vintage American Dog Portrait Interior Scene Signed Oil Painting
Large Exhibited Vintage American Dog Portrait Interior Scene Signed Oil Painting

Large Exhibited Vintage American Dog Portrait Interior Scene Signed Oil Painting

Located in Buffalo, NY

Large Vintage American modernist interior scene dog portrait oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed. Framed. Measuring: 49 by 40 inches overall, and 40 by 32 painting alone. Excellent...

Category

1940s Modern Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Teseo
Teseo

Teseo

By Giorgio De Chirico

Located in New York, NY

Color etching and aquatint, 1970. Signed by the artist in pencil, lower right. Numbered 2/50 in pencil, lower left. Titled in pencil, lower central. With the artist's blind stamp, l...

Category

1970s Modern Art

Materials

Etching, Aquatint

"Sophia Loren in A Countess" by John Springer

"Sophia Loren in A Countess" by John Springer

Located in London, GB

"Sophia Loren in A Countess from Hong Kong" by John Springer Sophia Loren stars as the Russian countess turned Hong Kong hostess Natascha in the film A Countess from Hong Kong. Movi...

Category

1960s Modern Art

Materials

Black and White

Ricard Opisso, Large 1940s Figurative Oil Painting, Catalan Modernist Narrative
Ricard Opisso, Large 1940s Figurative Oil Painting, Catalan Modernist Narrative

Ricard Opisso, Large 1940s Figurative Oil Painting, Catalan Modernist Narrative

By Ricard Opisso Sala

Located in Sitges, Barcelona

Ricard Opisso i Sala – “Soldiers Flirting in the Park” – Oil on Canvas, 75 × 101 cm (29.5 × 39.7 in) Artist: Ricard Opisso i Sala (1880–1966) Title: Soldiers Flirting in the Park Te...

Category

1940s Modern Art

Materials

Oil

Antique American Modernist New York City Skyline Framed Cityscape Oil Painting
Antique American Modernist New York City Skyline Framed Cityscape Oil Painting

Antique American Modernist New York City Skyline Framed Cityscape Oil Painting

Located in Buffalo, NY

Antique American modernist cityscape oil painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. Signed. Measuring: 29 by 25 inches overall, and 20 by 24 painting alone. In excellent original condition. ...

Category

1950s Modern Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Pichet et oiseau
Pichet et oiseau

Pichet et oiseau

By Georges Braque

Located in OPOLE, PL

Georges Braque (1882-1963) - Pichet et oiseau Etching from 1955. The edition of 74/300. Dimensions of work: 41.5 x 51 cm. Hand signed. Reference: Vallier 1005. The work is in G...

Category

1950s Modern Art

Materials

Etching

Who am I to be your secret lover? Figurative large format Landscape with figures
Who am I to be your secret lover? Figurative large format Landscape with figures

Who am I to be your secret lover? Figurative large format Landscape with figures

By Igor Fomin

Located in Segovia, ES

Who am I to be your secret lover? Figurative large format Landscape with figures in fairy-tale setting. Acrylic on canvas. Author: Igor Fomin. Measurements in centimeters: 195 x 195 cm. / In inches: 76.77 x 76.77" In this painting, Igor Fomin not only tells us the story of a couple who keep their love secret, he also tells us about that beautiful old place, a witness to their love affairs, and those neighbors, who should not find out and who make their lives. An entire city, with a splendid aqueduct in the background, through whose arches the view is lost. The set is endowed with a magnificent color and a complex structure, full of planes to stop at all those characters that fill the author's pictorial and literary imaginary. From the tow...

Category

1990s Modern Art

Materials

Canvas, Acrylic

Mid-Century Modern Abstracted Cubist Table Still-Life in Acrylic on Masonite
Mid-Century Modern Abstracted Cubist Table Still-Life in Acrylic on Masonite

Mid-Century Modern Abstracted Cubist Table Still-Life in Acrylic on Masonite

Located in Soquel, CA

Mid-Century Modern Abstracted Cubist Table Still-Life in Acrylic on Masonite Vibrant mid-century modern still life with abstracted synthetic cubist elements in warm colors, highligh...

Category

1970s Modern Art

Materials

Masonite, Acrylic

Lampe Pigeon
Lampe Pigeon

Lampe Pigeon

Located in PARIS, FR

EDITION Monogramed and numbered: FxL; 400/900 Editor’s mark on the tail: Artcurial CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY A certificate of authenticity issued by Artcurial, dated October 4, 19...

Category

Late 20th Century Modern Art

Materials

Bronze, Copper

Milwaukee Handicraft Project WPA
Milwaukee Handicraft Project WPA

Milwaukee Handicraft Project WPA

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Milwaukee Handicraft Project, Applied Design Blockprinted Textiles Volume VI Supplement, c. 1935 - 1942, twelve block printed designs on linen, images are various sizes, each is mounted in its original folder which measures 24 x 19 inches, all bear the Milwaukee Handicraft Project label, various designers, including Barbara Warren (1915 - 2005) ("Checkered Flower" and perhaps others), includes original portfolio binder The Milwaukee Handicraft Project (MHP) was the most prolific and successful of the decorative arts projects of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). It served as a model for many other similar projects across the United States and attracted the attention of thought leaders as diverse as Frank Lloyd Wright and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Designed with the dual goals of providing work for underprivileged women and the creation of well-designed household objects, the MHP began in 1935 under the direction of Elsa Ulbricht...

Category

1930s Modern Art

Materials

Textile, Linen, Linocut, Woodcut

Italian Modernist Abstract Sculpture Painting Shaped Canvas Brutalist Collage
Italian Modernist Abstract Sculpture Painting Shaped Canvas Brutalist Collage

Italian Modernist Abstract Sculpture Painting Shaped Canvas Brutalist Collage

By Max Marra

Located in Surfside, FL

Signed, dated, and titled "MAX MARRA XXX 2002 verso. Mixed media sculpture painting including acrylic, ink, cord, and wax on shaped canvas, 20 3/4 x 24 in., unframed. Ho viaggiato ...

Category

Early 2000s Modern Art

Materials

Cord, Ink, Mixed Media, Wax, Acrylic

Visage (Nez à Angle Droit)
Visage (Nez à Angle Droit)

Visage (Nez à Angle Droit)

By Pablo Picasso

Located in PARIS, FR

An authenticated work Dated June 21, 1963, this unique painted and glazed ceramic comes with a certificate of authenticity from Claude Ruiz Picasso (2019). A dated work Inscribed Ju...

Category

1960s Modern Art

Materials

Ceramic

Mascara Roja
Mascara Roja

Mascara Roja

By Rufino Tamayo

Located in San Francisco, CA

This artwork titled "Mascara Roja" 1969 is an original colors lithograph on B.F.K. Rives paper by renown Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo, 1899-1991. It is hand signed and inscribed H.C. (Hors Commerce) in pencil by the artist. The image size is 21 x 27.25 inches, framed size is 37.25 x 42 inches. Published by Touchtone Publisher, New York, printed by Ateliers Desjobert, Paris. Referenced and pictured in the artist's catalogue raisonne by Pereda, plate #124. Custom framed in a wooden gold leaf frame, with gold and red spacer and fabric matting. It is in excellent condition. About the artist: A native of Oaxaca in Southern Mexico, Rufino Tamayo's father was a shoemaker, and his mother a seamstress. Some accounts state that he was descended from Zapotec Indians, but he was actually 'mestizo' - of mixed indigenous/European ancestry. (Santa Barbara Museum of Art). He began painting at age 11. Orphaned at the age of 12, Tamayo moved to Mexico City, where he was raised by his maternal aunt who owned a wholesale fruit business. In 1917, he entered the San Carlos Academy of Fine Arts, but left soon after to pursue independent study. Four years later, Tamayo was appointed the head designer of the department of ethnographic drawings at the National Museum of Archaeology in Mexico City. There he was surrounded by pre-Colombian objects, an aesthetic inspiration that would play a pivotal role in his life. In his own work, Tamayo integrated the forms and tones of pre-Columbian ceramics into his early still lives and portraits of Mexican men and women. In the early 1920s he also taught art classes in Mexico City's public schools. Despite his involvement in Mexican history, he did not subscribe to the idea of art as nationalistic propaganda. Modern Mexican art at that time was dominated by 'The Three Great Ones' : Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueros, but Tamayo began to be noted as someone 'new' and different' for his blending of the aesthetics of post Revolutionary Mexico with the vanguard artists of Europe and the United States. After the Mexican Revolution, he focused on creating his own identity in his work, expressing what he thought was the traditional Mexico, and refusing to follow the political trends of his contemporary artists. This caused some to see him as a 'traitor' to the political cause, and he felt it difficult to freely express himself in his art. As a result, he decided to leave Mexico in 1926 and move to New York, along with his friend, the composer Carlos Chavez. The first exhibition of Tamayo's work in the United States was held at the Weyhe Gallery, New York, in that same year. The show was successful, and Tamayo was praised for his 'authentic' status as a Mexican of 'indigenous heritage', and for his internationally appealing Modernist aesthetic. (Santa Barbara Museum of Art). Throughout the late thirties and early forties New York's Valentine Gallery gave him shows. For nine years, beginning in 1938, he taught at the Dalton School in New York. In 1929, some health problems led him to return to Mexico for treatment. While there he took a series of teaching jobs. During this period he became romantically involved with the artist Maria Izquierdo...

Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Art

Materials

Lithograph

Myself as a Big Boss in New York - Large Modern British Portrait Oil Painting
Myself as a Big Boss in New York - Large Modern British Portrait Oil Painting

Myself as a Big Boss in New York - Large Modern British Portrait Oil Painting

Located in Sevenoaks, GB

A beautiful large scale mid 20th century Modern British oil on canvas self portrait of the artist as a "Big Boss in New York". Inscribed twice with title on the reverse. Excellent ...

Category

20th Century Modern Art

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Antique French Impressionist Framed Landscape Coastal Original Oil Painting
Antique French Impressionist Framed Landscape Coastal Original Oil Painting

Antique French Impressionist Framed Landscape Coastal Original Oil Painting

Located in Buffalo, NY

Antique French landscape oil painting. Oil on canvasboard. Framed. Signed verso. Measuring: 12 by 14 inches overall, and 9 by 11 painting alone. In excellent original condition. Ha...

Category

1920s Modern Art

Materials

Oil, Board

Set of 2 Bright Landscape Studies of 1960's British Modernist Drawings
Set of 2 Bright Landscape Studies of 1960's British Modernist Drawings

Set of 2 Bright Landscape Studies of 1960's British Modernist Drawings

By Irina Hale

Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire

Set of Two Paired Studies 1960's British Modernist Drawing by Irina Hale (British 1932-2022) oil crayon drawings on light brown artist paper stuck on A4 artist paper, unframed overal...

Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Art

Materials

Oil Crayon

Femme Torero I
Femme Torero I

Femme Torero I

By Pablo Picasso

Located in OPOLE, PL

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) - Femme Torero I Etching conceived in 1934, printed in 1939 The edition of 50 on Montval paper. Unsigned and unnumbered as issued. Dimensions of work: ...

Category

1930s Modern Art

Materials

Etching

Modern art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Modern art available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add art created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue, red, orange, purple and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Kevin Westenberg, Stuart Möller, Destro, and Christel Haag. Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Paper and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Modern art, so small editions measuring 0.4 inches across are also available. Prices for art made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $33 and tops out at $390,000, while the average work sells for $1,912.